In Chapter 7 of “The Functional Art: An Introduction to Information Graphics and Visualization” the topic of discussion is representing faces in infographics. A lot of mention is given to how our brain perceives information and the process of how we process it.

The information these impulses carry is stored and processed in the very short-term memory, then sent back into the long-term memory This relationship between working memory and long-term memory is similar to how a computer operates with RAM and a hard drive. “The brain identifies objects by comparing what you see with what you know and remember.”

Patterns of light are sent to iconic memory

Brain extracts the main features, then sends to working memory

Brain continues to send information

Brain compares the patters coming in to what it has stored in memory

The brain just needs enough information to identify enough non-accidental properties in order to associate it with the correct item. It is easier for us to understand an object when we can see the corners and junctures. In contrast, configuration-based object recognition is when the brain pays attention to how components are are spatially arranged in order to identify it.

HOTLINKS:

Face recognition game to show ability to recognize faces: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/java/faces.html